CSK Awards – 50 Years Strong!

On Monday, January 28, Dr. Claudette McLinn, Chair, announced the 2019 Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Award winners and Honor books, the 2019 John Steptoe winning titles for author and illustrator, and the 2019 CSK-Virginia Hamilton Award winner. This is the 50th year of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, and the logo was prominently displayed on the screen at the ALA Youth Media Award annoucement ceremony.

Next up was the John Steptoe Award for New Talent. The 2019 Steptoe Award for New Talent (Illustrator) was awarded to Oge Mora, author and illustrator of Thank You, Omu! The 2019 John Steptoe Award for New Talent (Author) was awarded to Tiffany D. Jackson for Monday’s Not Coming (HarperCollins)

Photo credit: Pat Toney

Photo credit: Pat Toney

2019 Coretta Scott King Book Award Honors for Illustration were awarded to Laura Freedman for Hidden Figures (written by Margot Lee Sherrerly, published by Harper Collins Children’s Books); Frank Morrison for Let the Children March (written by Moncia Clark-Robison, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); and R. Gregory Christie for Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop (written by Alice Faye Duncan, published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Highlights).

Photo credit: Ed Spicer

Photo credit: Ed Spicer

Photo credit: Ed Spicer

The 2019 Coretta Scott King Book Award for Illustration was awarded to Ekua Holmes, illustrator of The Stuff of Stars (written by Marion Dane Bauer and published by Candlewick Press).

Photo credit: Pat Toney

2019 Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honors were awarded to Lesa Cline-Ransome for Finding Langston (Holiday House); Varian Johnson for The Parker Inheritance ( Arthur A. Levine Books, a division of Scholastic); and Kekla Magoon for The Season of Styx Malone (Wendy Lamb Books, a divison of Penguin Random House LLC ).

Photo credit: Pat Toney

Photo credit: Pat Toney

Photo credit: Pat Toney

The 2019 Coretta Scott King Book Author Award winner is Claire Hartfield for A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 (Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Photo credit: Pat Toney

Many thanks to the members of the 2019 Coretta Scott Book Awards Jury and to the 2019 CSK-Virginia Hamilton Award Jury.

Don’t forget to purchase your ticket to the CSK Breakfast to be held in June during ALA Annual when we will celebrate all these awards!

2019 CSK Book Awards Jury, Photo credit Jessica Anne Bratt

2019 CSK-Virginia Hamilton Award Jury

Susan Polos works as a school librarian at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY. She is chair of the CSK Book Awards Technology Committee.